Need help wiring new pump

[ReefJerk]

Todd, the turnover is exactly what I'm looking for. My plan is to pretty much point the nozzles at each other to get clashing flow. have no intentions on bombarding the corals with direct flow. How many outputs are you pushing the 3800gph through?

With 12 nozzles, I want to get between 700-800 gph. That should be enough flow where current from one side of the tank can reach the other side. In theory, that would alleviate having to point any flow diagonally "into" the tank and just let the clashing flows contribute to the random waves.

 

[reefkoi]

yeah Todd is right, I have to be careful where I direct the pumps outlets to. I cant have any directed right at corals, my biggest issue has been to keep the flow in a wide pattern and not pinpoint it. But mostly I direct it at the bottom or on a rock with no corals and surface agitation.
Thats cool, you have 12 outlets I need to see that tank it sounds like its going to be a real flow monster!

Chris

 

[normanviking]

PICS!!!!!!!!!

 

[racer69]

Cliff, I have 8 nozzles in the top of the tank for my returns at about 2000 gph, and I have two maxijet streams at about 1800 gph combined. The 8 nozzles can be pointed in any direction, and the movement is great. I dont like having powerheads in the tank, but I didn't have the time for a CL back then. I think the hammerhead would be ideal for you, and you would not need any supplementation. You may even have to throttle back a little with ball valves.

 

[Deuce67]

12 nozzles at 700-800 gph is going to be one huge pump. Have you considered an OM 4way? You can put 3 nozzles per port. Then you can get 700-800 gph using a Dart. It just wouldnt be a constant flow but random which I think is better anyways. There different versions of the OM such as 2 ports opening at once which could give you 6 nozzles operating at one time.

 

[ReefJerk]

Photobucket is diwn for site maintenance, so I will post pics as soon as it's back up.

800gph x 12nozzles would give me 9600gph. I thought about using the OM, but figured if I got a big enough pump, I'd get the flow I am looking for. With the 4750, I'm just not satisfied. With 5800, maybe I will be able to let it go. I just was so impressed with the flow I saw on Melev's site tIhat I wanted to mimic it without having PH's in the tank. But, I am definitely going to get rid of the spa pump and go with a Hammerhead or an AMP Master 7500. I just need to make the choice right now. Am I the only one trying to get 10kgph on a 180? Does it seem that far-fetched? I've seen people with 3 and 4 Tunze's in their tanks with crazy flow and it doesn't seem like they are having any issues. That's what I want to emulate, except without the added powerheads.

 

[ReefJerk]

Early pics from about a month ago.

 

[normanviking]

Love the aquascaping. THat is a lot of nozzle's. looks really cool. Good job Cliff.

 

[murfman]

Scweeettttt

 

[Deuce67]

You got a sweet set up there! I really love the aquascaping. Looks like you put in a ton of time in researching. Great job!

 

[reefkoi]

thats a very different way of doing it. I like it, very well hidden. Did you think of that on your own or is that an idea someone else has already done B4?
C

 

[ReefJerk]

I was reading a thread somewhere where someone was having a conversation with Anthony Calfo and he was talking about his newest manifold designs. His suggestion was basically 1 port per 10 gallons at ~400gph. On his 125 he states 12 port, 5000gph. So, that's what I was trying to mimic. I didn't find any pics of his, but I figured I'd give it a shot. At first, I thought there is no way you can get that many ports in so small amount of space, but it worked out pretty good. He advocates using the entire perimeter of the tank, but I didn't want any on the front.

On a side note, I had the 4750 off for about 3 days(for maintenance and such). When I fired it back up, the flow seemed a lot more than I thought originally. Maybe just having it off is giving me a new perspective. There was flow across the entire surface of the sandbed, everything in the tank reacted. The Copperband went on a hunting spree, the Tangs got way more active, the SixLine seemed to be "playing" in the cross currents and one of the Purple Firefish ventured all the way to the other end of the tank. This all happened as soon as I turned the loop back on. It was very interesting to watch.

I think I am going to go with the Hammerhead and call it a day. If I get to the point where it doesn't seem like enough, I'll shut it down for a day or two to get new perspective

Thanks for all the compliments and information. It is really appreciated.

Cliff

 

[murfman]

I went with 2 return openings split with line lock and my 3rd return went over the top to the front and split again with LL. I wish I had drilled one more hole in the back and put the return there. My left side, where my SPS are is not getting enough flow for my liking so I put in a Seio 820 in the center of the tank and aimed toward the SPS. I have good pressure coming out of the returns but not enough direction. (kinda like life)

 

[ReefJerk]

ReefKoi, do you have any pics of your loop?

 

[ReefJerk]

This is Melev's flow in his 280. I would love to have this kind of flow without a powerhead in the tank.
WARNING: This file is about 41mb. Using Adelphia Powerlink, it took about 5-10 seconds to buffer on my computer. Just so you know.

http://www.melevsreef.com/video/280g_movement.wmv

 

[reefkoi]

I just snapped a few bad photos, i'll load them and see if it makes any sense. I have a lot of pipe in my mech room, all squeezed in between the furnace and water heater, so its hard to get the camera at the right angle to see whats going on.
Chris

 

[reefkoi]

well, I just watched that video, really I dont think that is a ton of flow, your setup should have way more than that, I have most of my valves cut down halfway and am getting that much easilly, could have way more if i wanted. Trust me your tank with a couple darts will blow you away of its all plumbed right.
chris

 

[ReefJerk]

That is great news. I will have to get some time to look at your setup. If I can get that kind of flow in my system, I'd be ecstatic.

 

[reefkoi]

heres a pic, it might be hard to tell whats going on, buts its the manifold for half of the returns, it has worked perfectly for me so far

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